The New York Rangers lost in the second round of Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Ottawa Senators. Many mistakes were made throughout the postseason even though they did play strong out times and managed to get six wins. However, twelve wins are needed to advance to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals. For the past years the Rangers keep coming up short. The offense was mostly good. They set up scoring chances and put the puck past Carey Price and Craig Anderson, two goaltenders who had strong years. They did make mistakes though. When watching the game, I noticed twice or three times that a Ranger had a huge scoring chance set up by his teammate and he was unable to handle the puck. In order to win, they need combinations that result in big plays for goals. They also need to be better on the Power Play. However, I think once they improve their combinations, they will be fine on the Power Play or any other play. Next is the defense. The defense needs a lot of work. They rely to much on Henrik Lundqvist, goaltender of the New York Rangers since 2005. Lundqvist is arguably the best goaltender playing in the league right now. Even at thirty-five, he is agile and reacts fast enough to make incredible saves. Lundqvist won a gold medal in the IIHF World Championships this year for team Sweden. During the final against Canada Lundqvist made tremendous saves and only allowed on goal. The game tied at one goal to one goal. The game went to a twenty minute overtime. In overtime, Lundqvist saved all the shots that he faced. Lundqvist would end up making the winning save in the shootouts. However, the IIHF game is a lot slower and Lundqvist faced less shots than in the NHL. In order for Lundqvist to continue his amazing play the defense has to help him. They need to block more shots. They cannot rely on Lundqvist to d everything. If every shot the opponent takes gets to Lundqvist, eventually one will go in. Even though Lundqvist is amazing, he cannot be expected to stop thirty-five to forty shots every game. The Rangers could fix their problem by trading for a big defensive player. The Rangers could use goaltender Antii Raanta as bate for the trade. Raanta played like a starter last year. He could be of very good use to a team that needs a goaltender. However, I think the that the Rangers should only trade him if they can get something good out of him. If the Rangers cannot get a trade done with Raanta, they should try to make a trade with the Penguins to acquire Malkin Or Daley. Trevor Daley would be the cheaper one to get, of course. However, a trade for Malkin would be worth it. Malkin would not only help the defense, he would also be a sharp shooter and playmaker for the offense. A trade for Malkin would be hard because of his No Move Clause in his contract. The Rangers should settle for Daley and possibly one other player from the Penguins. The Rangers could also add depth to the roster by trading for Joe Thornton or Jaromir Jagr. What ever the Rangers do, they have to win the cup soon.
